ReviewPakistan journal of medical sciences2026
Challenges in implementing integrated undergraduate medical curricula across low- and middle-income countries: A scoping review.
Review in Pakistan journal of medical sciences, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Objectives: Integrated curricula have become a core element of undergraduate medical education (UGME) reforms worldwide, including low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). LMICs, which are often characterized as resource-constrained settings, encounter challenges in integrated curricula implementation. However, these challenges are reported fragmentarily. This review mapped the literature on the implementation of integrated curricula in LMICs, with attention to reported challenges, contextual variation and gaps in the evidence base. Methodology: Electronic searches were conducted between August 2025 and January 2026 at the Department of Medical Education, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia following the frameworks of Arksey and O'Malley and Levac et al. The literature published between January 2010 and December 2025 within LMIC medical schools was searched through PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, EBSCO MEDLINE Complete and ERIC databases. Original peer-reviewed studies in English reporting the functional enactment of integrated undergraduate medical curricula were eligible for inclusion. Results: From 925 records identified, thirteen studies met the inclusion criteria. Six broad themes (with sub-themes) were identified: resources and infrastructure constraints (faculty shortages, lack of skills labs), governance and organizational barriers (policy-practice gaps, limited departmental autonomy), faculty development needs (role-transition resistance), assessment misalignment (exit exams undermining delivery), curriculum integration issues (content overload) and training settings constraints (rural supervision shortages). The findings indicated that while structural reforms are widespread, a deficiency in reporting on implementation outcomes remains a critical evidence gap. Conclusion: The findings suggest that the implementation of integrated UGME curricula in LMICs depends not only on curriculum design but also on the strength of institutional system and contextual readiness to support reforms into practice.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.